This pop group's music can make curry taste 10% spicier, apparently

Have your tastebuds become acclimatised to a regular old chicken balti and yearning for something a bit hotter?

Well it might be time to turn on your radio and chow down to a bit of the Spice Girls.

No really, that wasn't us making a bad spice pun, it's actually the advice of a new study which found that listening to fast-paced, lively music while you eat can heighten your perception of spice. Basically, it can make food taste hotter than it really is.

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Researchers from the University of Oxford have dubbed the phenomenon 'sonic seasoning' where you pepper your food with tunes from the Chili Peppers or traditional Indian music, reports the Daily Mail.

The results, published in the Scientific Journal Food Quality and Preference, found that high pitched singing and uptempo drumming affected our taste buds.

For the study, 180 volunteers were asked to choose the music they would associate with spicy food. Participants were then given hot dishes to eat in sessions where they listened to either clips from the music they selected, white noise or nothing at all.

Researchers found that those listening to fast tempo and high pitch sounds reported that their food was spicier and the flavours more intense.

Chief executive Steve Keller said the Red Hot Chili Peppers' older tracks would probably work best because they were 'more raw and unpolished'.

He added: 'Perhaps you could say the Red Hot Chili Peppers grew a little less red hot with age.'

We wonder which songs could make spicy food taste mild? That's the one that would really impress our friends.

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